EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Review WOW!

randy98mtu wrote in post #18782534
No feathers to shoot around here...

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by randy98mtu originally in forum: Canon Digital Cameras

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by randy98mtu originally in forum: Canon Digital Cameras

Very nice work, Randy.

Lame-Duck wrote in post #18783271
Very nice work, Randy.

Thanks, Mike! This lens is a real joy to work with.

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First birds of the New Year for me. I've been sick since Christmas Day, finally feeling better. Broke out the 80D for the first time in a while because I needed more reach and aperture than my FFs + 1.4 have been providing. 80D on the bare 100-400 II is a really awesome combo.

EDITED TO ADD: wow, these look MUCH noisier on my work monitor than on my home Macbook Pro Retina Even did noise reduction in LR. That's the thing with shooting in the winter with my 80D, I'm always at ISO 3200/6400/sometimes 12,800, and the APS-C sensor just has a tough time with it. To it's credit, there's some excellent sharp detail retained on the birds; the backgrounds are a mess though. Do you all think there's some better noise reduction options available? I didn't find Topaz that much better than LR when I demo'd it a few months back.

Golden-crowned Kinglet:

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MatthewK wrote in post #18783872
EDITED TO ADD: wow, these look MUCH noisier on my work monitor than on my home Macbook Pro Retina Even did noise reduction in LR. That's the thing with shooting in the winter with my 80D, I'm always at ISO 3200/6400/sometimes 12,800, and the APS-C sensor just has a tough time with it. To it's credit, there's some excellent sharp detail retained on the birds; the backgrounds are a mess though. Do you all think there's some better noise reduction options available? I didn't find Topaz that much better than LR when I demo'd it a few months back.

In more recent versions of Photoshop you can create selection areas based on what's in (or out) of focus: https://helpx.adobe.co​m …ng/select-area-focus.html

Once only the blurred areas of your image are selected, you can apply some fairly heavy noise reduction; the idea being that the noise is most noticeable in areas with low frequency detail (and these areas are generally not negatively affected by heavy noise reduction). Areas with high frequency detail (i.e. the subject) can then be given a more subtle noise reduction - in order to try to avoid damaging the perception of sharpness.

MatthewK wrote in post #18783872
First birds of the New Year for me. I've been sick since Christmas Day, finally feeling better. Broke out the 80D for the first time in a while because I needed more reach and aperture than my FFs + 1.4 have been providing. 80D on the bare 100-400 II is a really awesome combo.

EDITED TO ADD: wow, these look MUCH noisier on my work monitor than on my home Macbook Pro Retina Even did noise reduction in LR. That's the thing with shooting in the winter with my 80D, I'm always at ISO 3200/6400/sometimes 12,800, and the APS-C sensor just has a tough time with it. To it's credit, there's some excellent sharp detail retained on the birds; the backgrounds are a mess though. Do you all think there's some better noise reduction options available? I didn't find Topaz that much better than LR when I demo'd it a few months back.

Golden-crowned Kinglet:

sploo wrote in post #18784291
In more recent versions of Photoshop you can create selection areas based on what's in (or out) of focus: https://helpx.adobe.co​m …ng/select-area-focus.html

Once only the blurred areas of your image are selected, you can apply some fairly heavy noise reduction; the idea being that the noise is most noticeable in areas with low frequency detail (and these areas are generally not negatively affected by heavy noise reduction). Areas with high frequency detail (i.e. the subject) can then be given a more subtle noise reduction - in order to try to avoid damaging the perception of sharpness.

In LR you can use the local adjustment brush or the radial filter with max. noise reduction and minimum sharpness to paint over the background, in between a lot of branches that gets difficult though. In my last post I used it on the first 2 photos, not on the last two(maybe I should have).

MatthewK wrote in post #18783872
EDITED TO ADD: wow, these look MUCH noisier on my work monitor than on my home Macbook Pro Retina Even did noise reduction in LR. That's the thing with shooting in the winter with my 80D, I'm always at ISO 3200/6400/sometimes 12,800, and the APS-C sensor just has a tough time with it. To it's credit, there's some excellent sharp detail retained on the birds; the backgrounds are a mess though. Do you all think there's some better noise reduction options available? I didn't find Topaz that much better than LR when I demo'd it a few months back.

I see that you were shooting at 1/1000sec shutter speed. Could you have dialled that down a bit? I know small birds tend to be skittish, but dropping the shutter speed would obviously have allowed a lower ISO.

MatthewK wrote in post #18783872
First birds of the New Year for me. I've been sick since Christmas Day, finally feeling better. Broke out the 80D for the first time in a while because I needed more reach and aperture than my FFs + 1.4 have been providing. 80D on the bare 100-400 II is a really awesome combo.

EDITED TO ADD: wow, these look MUCH noisier on my work monitor than on my home Macbook Pro Retina Even did noise reduction in LR. That's the thing with shooting in the winter with my 80D, I'm always at ISO 3200/6400/sometimes 12,800, and the APS-C sensor just has a tough time with it. To it's credit, there's some excellent sharp detail retained on the birds; the backgrounds are a mess though. Do you all think there's some better noise reduction options available? I didn't find Topaz that much better than LR when I demo'd it a few months back.

Golden-crowned Kinglet:

Hosted photo: posted by MatthewK in
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forum: Canon Lenses

Hosted photo: posted by MatthewK in
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forum: Canon Lenses

Speaking for myself, the noise doesn't worry me unduly and the kinglet is breathtaking in both pics.

The lake was thawing but still a bit icy. These are two different geese, by the way. How can I tell? They were cropped from the same photo.

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Spencerphoto wrote in post #18784445
I see that you were shooting at 1/1000sec shutter speed. Could you have dialled that down a bit? I know small birds tend to be skittish, but dropping the shutter speed would obviously have allowed a lower ISO.

For any other bird, I’m usually at 1/400 or 1/640, but Kinglets are hyperactive

Jack Dawe wrote in post #18784563
Speaking for myself, the noise doesn't worry me unduly and the kinglet is breathtaking in both pics.

Man, thanks for this, Jack. Always striving to improve here

You may have already seen it ... it just caught my eye... and this thread needs some colour

ozziepuppy wrote in post #18784578
The lake was thawing but still a bit icy. These are two different geese, by the way. How can I tell? They were cropped from the same photo.

Hosted photo: posted by ozziepuppy in
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forum: Canon Lenses

Hosted photo: posted by ozziepuppy in
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forum: Canon Lenses

Keep up the good work, Marci! The first shot is perfectly captured with just the right amount of motion blur in the wings, and the eyes are tack sharp.

pcs wrote in post #18782744
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Wow, supreme detail in this close-up! I like how that sharp detail draws your eye up the side of the neck and head and to the eye.

No noise at ISO 2000 either, that 5D4 sensor is super clean!

MatthewK wrote in post #18784636
Keep up the good work, Marci! The first shot is perfectly captured with just the right amount of motion blur in the wings, and the eyes are tack sharp.

Thank you, Matthew! I really appreciate the encouragement.